Buoy for mooring vessels



Feb. 19, 1963 R. LLOYD BUOY FOR MOORING VESSEL-S Filed July 20. 1960INVENTOR. ROBERT L. LLOYD United States Patent Oflflce 3,077,614Patented Feb. 19, 1963 BUQY FOR MOOREJG VESSELS Robert L. Lloyd, FarmView Road, Fiower Hill, Port Washington, NY.

Filed July 20, 1960, Ser. No. 44,044 8 tilairns. (Cl. -S)

When anchoring a vessel to its mooring it is necessary to gauge speedand direction of travel so that a person in the bow of the boat canreach down into the water and pick up the buoy and anchor line. Greatskill is required in maneuvering the boat to pick up the mooring becausethe line of sight of the helmsman is cut oil as the buoy is approachedand the helmsman can only approximate his course. With conventionalmooring the anchor line is submerged when not in use and when takenaboard scum, seaweed and other debris is deposited on deck which makesit necessary to clean the deck each time the mooring is used.

In order to overcome these difliculties I have now devised a buoy withan extension or marker which is at all times held in upright positionabove water level preferably at least as high as the gunwale of a vesseland the marker is provided with means for securing the free end of theanchor line above water level. With this arrangement the person guidingthe vessel has a marker which is always visible and which he canaccurately approach regardless of wind, tide and weather conditions. Theanchor line can be taken off the extension by a person standing on thedeck of the vessel and the line is clean and dry so that noobjectionable material is brought into the vessel.

In the structure of my invention I employ an underwater weight as acounterbalance which when held in a certain position relative to thefloat member of the buoy and given a certain weight relative to thebuoyancy of the fioat member will successfully hold the marker insubstantially upright position regardless of the wind and tideconditions. The counterbalance is attached to the float by means of arigid rod or rigid pole and the buoyancy of the float member must be atleast 2% times greater than the weight of the counterbalance. Thecounterbalance weight is held in position spaced away from the bottom ofthe float member and the space between the weight and bottom of thefloat member is not less than the distance between the center ofbuoyancy of the buoy and level of the water. The anchor line is attachedto the rod in the space between the counterbalance weight and the bottomof the float member at or above the mid-point of the space. With thisconstruction the pull of the moored vessel may be transmitted directlyto the anchor and at the same time the high buoyancy to counterbalanceweight ratio is effective to prevent tipping the buoy.

The rigid rod which carries the counterbalance weight preferably passesup through the body of the float member to extend above and form theupper extension of the buoy. It is not essential that the rod passthrough the body of the float member as two separate rods may beemployed, one for the counterbalance weight and one for the extension.The rods may be made an integral part of the float member or they may beremovably attached whereby extensions of varying heights may beexchanged depending on the height of the gunwale of the particularvessel to be moored. Preferably the float member is a cylinder made ofpolyethylene but the float member can be of any shape and variousmaterials such as Wood, metal, and other plastics may be used. There isa particular advantage in using polyethylene for I have found thatbarnacles or seaweed will not accumulate to any objectionable degree onthe polyethylene float member. The free end of the anchor line isremovably held on the tip of the upper extension. One convenient way ofattaching this end of the anchor line is to provide a U-shaped tip tothe upper extension and a ring in the end of the anchor line whereby thering may be readily picked up or hooked over the U-shaped holder.

As mentioned hereinabove the buoyancy of the float member should be atleast 2 /2 times the weight of the counterbalance attached thereto. Theterm buoyancy as used herein is intended to mean the weight of waterdisplaced by the float member when totally submerged. Greater buoyanciesmay be used and since the volume of the float member for a givenmaterial increases as its buoy ancy increases the point when the size ofthe float member becomes objectionably bulky is usually the controllingconsideration in selecting a high buoyancy.

The term center of buoyancy as used herein is intended to mean thecenter of gravity of the water actually displaced by the float memberwhen the entire buoy assembly is floating in water.

Further details of my invention will be readily understood by referenceto the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of the buoy partly fragmentized.

FIG. 2 is a view of the buoy in water with the anchor line in place onthe upper extension.

FIG. 3 is similar to FIG. 2 showing a vessel secured to the anchor lineof the buoy.

The preferred embodiment of structure shown in the drawings comprises afloat member 10 in the form of a cylinder made from polyethylene. Thetop and bottom walls 12 and 14 respectively of the float member havecentrally located holes 16 the areas of which are selected to give asnug fit about the rod member 18. Rod member 18 is a solid rigid plasticmaterial. The lower end of the rod member has a counterbalance weight 20attached thereto. Between the counterbalance and the bottom wall of thefloat member there is a ring 22 which is integral with rod member 18.

Prior to inserting the upper end of rod member 18 through hole 16 in thebottom wall 14 of the float member, a large washer or flange 24 isslipped on to the rod member and down to the ring 22. Then rod member 18is inserted through holes 16 up through the float member 16 and a secondflange 24 is slipped over the upper end of the rod member. A collar 26is then slipped over the upper end of the rod member and attachedthereto by conventional means such as swedging, welding or screwthreads. A waterproof caulking or sealing compound 23 is then applied tothe outer surfaces of the top and bottom Walls 12 and 14 over an areacorresponding to the cross sectional area of flanges 24. Flanges 24 arethen pressed against the top and bottom walls of the float member andinto the sealing compound thereon. If desired pressure can be maintainedon flanges 24 until the sealing compound has set to form a permanentwaterproof barrier around the holes 16 and join flanges 24 to the topand bottom walls of the float member.

The lower end of a rigid upper extension 30 extending above the top ofthe float member is now inserted into the top of collar 26. Theextension can be permanently attached to the collar as by welding or ifdesired it can be removably attached with screw threads wherebyextensions of varying height may be exchanged. The tip of the upperextension terminates in a generally U-shaped member 32 which is adaptedto hold the free end of the anchor line. The length of the upperextension will vary according to the height of the gunwale of theparticular vessel to be moored.

Although the buoy structure I have now described includes an empty floatmember which may be used as such, in the event the float member wereaccidentally punctured it would fill up with water and sink. In order toprevent this I prefer to foam a plastic material such as polystyrene orpolyurethane in situ within the float member so that the entire floatmember is filled with plastic foam 33. The light weight plastic foamhaving minute discontinuous air pockets throughout will readily maintainthe buoyancy of the float member in case of puncture. The air pocketsshould of course be discontinuous or unconnected in order to preventwater from permeating the entire plastic foam should the float member bepunctured. I have achieved excellent results with foamable pellets ofpolystyrene sold under the trade name Pelaspan by the Dow ChemicalCompany. These pellets when contacted with live steam explode into arigid foam many times their original size. If foam is employed theplastic pellets are placed inside the float member through holes 16prior to the assembly of rod 18. The float member is then turned on itsside and a rigid rod long enough to pass through and extend away fromthe top and bottom walls of the float member is inserted through holes16. This rod acts as a probe which creates a hollow core in the plasticfoamthrough which rod member 18 can later be inserted. After the probe.rod is in place live steam is injected into the float member with asmall nozzle inserted into the slight clearance between the probe rodand one of the holes 16. Almost immediately the polystyrene pellets willexpand and fill up the entire float member with rigid plastic foam.Thereafter the probe rod is withdrawn and the buoy is assembled in thesame way as described heretofore for the empty float member.

FIG. 2 shows the buoy anchored in water and the arrow above the waterpoints in the direction of the prevailing wind, tide or current. Thereis an anchor 34 in the sea bed from which an anchor line 36 extends tothe ring 22. Preferably the end of the anchor line is slideably attachedto ring 22 as for example with a closed loop or shackle so that theanchor line is free to move on the ring as the buoy Changes its positiondue to tide, wind or current. One end of a second line 38 which I referto as a pennant is attached to the ring 22 preferably in the same manneras described for the anchor line. The other end of the pennant 38 isremovably held on U-shaped member 32 Where it is readily accessible toone standing on the deck of the vessel to be moored. As can be seen thepennant 38 is always held well above the Water and as a result thevessel is secured to a dry line. This is very advantageous particularlyin salt water since the corrosive effects of salt water on the vesselare minimized. Also, the helmsman has an upright visible marker to steerto no matter how close to the buoy his vessel is.

FIG. 3 shows the bow of a vessel 40 secured to pennant 38 with the arrowabove the water having the same significance described for FIG. 2. Itwill be seen that the pull of the vessel is transmitted through thepennant and the anchor line directly to the anchor with very littlestrain, if any, being put on the float member itself. This plus the highbuoyancy-to-counterbalance Weight ratio maintains the entire buoy insubstantially upright position when the vessel is secured thereto. Asmentioned herein above the buoyancy of float member should at least be 2times greater than the weight of the counterbalance 20. I have achievedexcellent results with a float member having a buoyancy of 333 lbs. towhich a counterbalance of 25 lbs. is attached. However, higher or lowerweight ratios than this may be used if desired but in all cases theratio should be such that the buoyancy of the float is at least 2 /2times greater than the weight of the counterbalance.

It will be understood that shape of the float member shown is notcritical and that other shapes may be used. For example, the lowerportion of the float member can taper to a point in the form of a conein which case the anchor line can be attached to the bottom tip of thefloat member. Also one anchor line extending up to the tip of the upperextension may be used in place of the separate pennant and anchor line.In such case one of the links in the anchor line or some other meanswould be used for attaching the anchor line to ring 22 and of course asufiicient length of the anchor line would be left free to extend up tothe tip of the upper extension. If desired rod member 18 may extendthrough the float member all the way up to the height of the gunwale ofthe vessel to be moored and in such case U-shaped member 32 is attachedto the tip of the rod member with screw thread, by weld, 'swcdge orother conventional means.

It will be further understood that it is intended to cover all changesand modifications of the preferred embodiment of the invention hereinchosen for purposes of illustration which do not constitute departuresfrom the spirit and scope of the invention.

I claim:

1. A buoy for securing a vessel floating in water which comprises abuoyant float member having two rigid rod members extending out fromopposite sides and along a central axis thereof, one of such rod membershaving a counterbalance weight spaced away from said float member, meanspositioned onsaid one .rod member intermediate the float member and thecounterbalance, Weight adapted to hold an anchor line for securing thevessel, an anchor line, said anchor line being secured to said means ata point spaced away from one free end thereof, means on the second rodmember for removably holding said free end of the anchor line when notin use for securing the vessel, the buoyancy of the float member beingat least two and one half times the weight of the counterbalance.

2. The structure as specified in claim 1 in which the float member is inthe form of a closed cylinder of polyethylene.

3. The structure as specified in claim 2 in which the chamber of thefloat member is filled with foamed plastic material.

4. The structure as specified in claim 3 in which the buoyancy of thefloat member is approximately 3-33 lbs.

5. A buoy for securing a vessel floating in water which comprises abuoyant float member having a rigid rod member extending through thefloat member out from opposite sides and along a central axis thereof, acounterbalance weight carried on the rod member in a position spacedaway from one side of the float member, means positioned on said rodmember intermediate the float member and the counterbalance weightadapted to hold an anchor line for securing the vessel, an anchor line,said anchor line being secured to said means at a point spaced away fromone free end thereof, means on the rod member spaced away from theopposite side of the float member for removably holding said free end ofthe anchor line when not in use for securing the vessel, the buoyancy ofthe float member being at least two and one half times the weight of thecounterbalance.

6. The structure as specified in claim 1 in which the anchor lineterminates at said first mentioned means and is secured thereto and inwhich a separate line is provided for securing the vessel, sa-idseparate line being secured at one end portion thereof to said firstmentioned means and the opposite end portion of said separate line beingremovably held at said second mentioned means when the line is not inuse for securing the vessel.

7. Structure of claim 1 wherein said means for removably holding saidfree end of the anchor line when not in use is a U shaped extension onthe end of the second rod over which the free end of the anchor line maybe looped.

8. Structure of claim 1 wherein said means for securing an anchor lineis a ring and said anchor line is in two portions, one portion forconnecting to an anchor and another portion for connecting to a boat,each of said portions being movably attached to said ring so that theyare free to move on the ring to permit the buoy to remain upright as itchanges position.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,921,500 Blake Aug. 8, 1933 2,456,254 Caruso Dec. 14, 1948 2,819,476Dodge Jan. 14, 1958 2,955,561 Andersen Oct. 11, 1960 2,961,194 ThornessNov. 22, 1960

1. A BUOY FOR SECURING A VESSEL FLOATING IN WATER WHICH COMPRISES ABUOYANT FLOAT MEMBER HAVING TWO RIGID ROD MEMBERS EXTENDING OUT FROMOPPOSITE SIDES AND ALONG A CENTRAL AXIS THEREOF, ONE OF SUCH ROD MEMBERSHAVING A COUNTERBALANCE WEIGHT SPACED AWAY FROM SAID FLOAT MEMBER, MEANSPOSITIONED ON SAID ONE ROD MEMBER INTERMEDIATE THE FLOAT MEMBER AND THECOUNTERBALANCE WEIGHT ADAPTED TO HOLD AN ANCHOR LINE FOR SECURING THEVESSEL, AN ANCHOR LINE, SAID ANCHOR LINE BEING SECURED TO SAID MEANS ATA POINT SPACED AWAY FROM ONE FREE END THEREOF, MEANS ON THE SECOND RODMEMBER FOR REMOVABLY HOLDING SAID FREE END OF THE ANCHOR LINE WHEN NOTIN USE FOR SECURING THE VESSEL, THE BUOYANCY OF THE FLOAT MEMBER BEINGAT LEAST TWO AND ONE HALF TIMES THE WEIGHT OF THE COUNTERBALANCE.